The world, at the time I started writing this story, is different from what it was when I once experienced these events. Of course, people won't remember that. After how the events ended, they are not supposed to remember. But everything I once experienced, and went through was real and this is more than a tale.

9 years ago—before the start of the events— in the nation of Rose, after my unusual retirement from the secret services of an organisation, I was brought for my good to Lydia, the nation on the continent beyond the sea. That was the very first time—when I was given a place to live and people to call family—when I was acquainted with him, with William.

That time, he was but a small child, a ten-year-old, as Jonathan, his adopted father, said. William and I soon got closer, like actual brothers. After the mysterious disappearance of Jonathan, though he wanted to spend his days alone, I started spending more time with William.

In Rose, there was no particular concept of energies and manifestation. The nation sure had its fair share of troublemakers and even some who possess strength beyond logical explanation. But after I had been brought to the Nation of Lydia, I came across these concepts like natural and internal energies, their flow, and the concept of manifestation.

People in all five nations of this continent possessed a higher amount of internal energies that, I was later enlightened, connected nature and existence on the planet to the cosmos. It was fascinating how I witnessed things beyond my scientific mind. People, with these energies, could connect themselves to nature and sense every element of the planet. The grass, the rock, soil and water, mountains and waterfalls, air . . . people, and the cosmos.

People with higher control over their conscious mind would use these energies, channelling a near-infinite amount of it at a single point in time, and summon physical objects; mostly small weapons and tools. People with lower control over their conscious mind used certain medical drugs to enhance their mental strength until it was later banned due to their side effects.

William was a brilliant person from his youth. Having an exceptional amount of control over his consciousness and his internal flow of energies, he had accompanied Rita—his childhood friend, 4 years older than him—in many not-so-normal cases and incidents. Thus, resulted in later having a reputation as one of the most reliable investigators.

Over the years, I saw him getting involved in many intense and complex not-so-normal cases, which people, including me, would name as 'cases regarding devils and spirits'.

Of course, it was much later when I understood the nature of their existence and their science beyond my understanding, that I realised what they were. But the majority of humans still denied accepting it. For them, anything beyond the explanation of their not-so-developed logical mind is alien, ghostly and in the category of magic and sorcery. Even a potential danger.

But, William's final case as a private investigator was when the mayor of Zora, his town on the outskirts of the nation, assigned him to investigate the mystery behind the old mansion in the town. I, too, accompanied him in that investigation and with a not-so-expected ending to that case, things changed for him and 'Zora town mansion' was William's last case as an investigator.

I shall, perhaps, cover that part of William's life sometime in the future. Although that incident had a very minor role in the overall events, it changed him and that incident indirectly connected him to a much greater series of events in the coming years.

These events I was a part of, for some reason, fascinated me, and I wanted to keep a record of it. 'Cause humans live for decades, but stories live for ages.

.

RIVIA LAWRENCE

It was almost a month after the incident in the mansion in Zora, a town on the outskirts of the Nation. A month ago, there were rumours in the town about the mansion being possessed, which turned into major news when two people were found dead in the mansion's vicinity. Naturally, William, having the title of one of the most reputable investigators, the mayor had asked him to investigate the place and the case.

It was to his surprise how it ended when he had to go against his mother—Mary, at least that's what he called that female silver-white-haired entity when she manifested in that conscious plane. And, no matter how much William wanted his mother to stay, it was hard for William—mentally and physically —to kill the remaining consciousness of his mother, who herself was under one of those entities' possession, to set her free from her painful existence and suffering.

But, after the incident, William changed a lot. Old careless, clumsy and spontaneous natured William was more disciplined now and knew his responsibilities. Not sure about his seriousness towards his work, but it was better than nothing. It took some time for his 18-year-old mind to realise, life can't always go the way we want and inconsistency is the only consistent thing in the world.

Just like a stage play, where one is the protagonist. Many characters come on the stage and play their role. Some arrive to throw you in despair and some arrive, to extend their hands to bring you out of it. And then leave when it's their time to leave. Both kinds of characters are necessary for the play to feel impactful. And, it's the protagonist, who has to stay on the stage till the very end and give a fulfilling ending to the play.

That day, my eyes opened early in the morning and I remembered I had to meet him. Getting myself ready in less than an hour, I reached his place just to understand, he had visited the grave in the old mansion.

It was the eighth day of the current moon cycle. Ever since the incident, he visited his mother's grave once every set of days. Usually twice in a single moon cycle. Though, for a person who never really followed any schedule, it was normal for him to visit that place on some other days.

The old mansion, even after the incident, felt eerie as ever. But now, the mansion vicinity was cleaned, the water in the pond was changed, the dry trees in the surrounding area were cleared and no more spider webs. The gates opened with an irritating sound and I walked inside. I went straight towards the backyard, the place of the grave. William was standing alone in front of the marble grave, keeping his eyes on the flowers on it. Roses were offered as his mother loved them.

I calmly walked closer and stood beside him. He might have seen me coming but didn't respond. I presumed, maybe, he wanted some silence.

"Can we tal—?"

"Shh–" He stopped me before I could ask. I curiously gave a questioning look at him before he snapped again. "Don't look."

"But—"

"Quiet," he whispered again. "Stay on the place. Observe the roses."

William, his hands resting in the pockets of his brown trench coat, kept looking at the flowers on the grave while I, having my suspicions in mind, forced my mind to understand what was happening. Noticing his serious tone, my mind came up with the thought that, possibly, he was being spied on and didn't want to make things suspicious for them.

My eyes too went to the roses while I stood quiet. When the absolute silence filled the place, with only the sound of wind in the area, I noticed a petal of a rose, gradually rotting, turned brown. I stood quiet. When one of the other petals began the same rotting, William's hand, with a snap, came out of his pocket and extended ahead, as if grabbing something.

His random actions made no sense to me until the veins on his hands tensed. William channelled a wave of energies ahead, and a light-blue translucent figure appeared in the air, with William's hand, gripping something which resembled its neck. His grip around it tightened, and small screaming sounds came from the figure. Managing his coat, William turned around, swivelling his hands and smashed the figure on the ground. His veins tensed again when a flow of energies was channelled through them into the figure. And, it went calm before finally fading away from the place.

William calmed himself and stood up, glanced at me, "You'd have almost ruined that."

"What's happening?"

"It was one of the cases I received," he answered. "Last week I received a letter about their daughter seeing something sinister in this area. They mostly exaggerated the whole letter 'cause of what happened with this house. But, the 'witnessing-something-sinister' part felt convincing enough. So. . ." He cleaned his hands with a handkerchief, "Thought maybe pay this place a visit again."

"I recall you mentioned you quit being a private investigator."

"This was more like a request, than a case."

I paused for a while, then said, "So, that— thing that appeared in your hand. Was that some kind of spirit?"

"What— no, heavens, no!" He shook his head. "How does anything peculiar or beyond one's understanding have to be ghostly or sinister? It was just a manifestation of the planet's natural energies."

William walked ahead while my face had a confused look. I caught up to him, asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, how should I explain this?" He answered. "So, as we were taught, there's this thing called leylines, which channels the energies through the planet's surface and governs the flow of nature. Now, from a historical point, which the scientists still deny, these leylines are physical things, which when leaked at some spots release energies to the surface, that may manifest as physical beings."

"So, that— thing, whatever that was, was one of it?"

William nodded, walking ahead toward the exit of the massive mansion vicinity, while my feet walked at his pace. "And how did you suspect it would appear in that place?"

"The roses, of course." He said in a casual tone and I could notice his mind, recovering from the previous incident. His life force and energies were calmer, and he was more casual than in the past weeks.

"Rose flowers?" I questioned after a pause.

He nodded. "Well, that being was created out of the natural energies and would have naturally attracted to any flowers. Flowers, being born from plants which grow from the ground, possess the same energies, and the fragrance they possess, were the perfect bait to lure it to an exact place.

"These beings are a manifestation of the same energies," he, for a moment, glanced at me and looked back at the road again. "Like . . . actual energies. Thus, the concentration of these energies inside them makes them suck similar energies out of anything around them. So, when the flower petals began to rot, it was clear the being was closer."

I forgot how annoying and nerdy was William sometimes. William, from the beginning, was fascinated by these energies and their natural flow, in the planet and human bodies, and their effects. If got a chance, he'd theory dump for hours. Though, after his visit to the capital in the coming days, I was told he was mostly serious and calm about things.

"But honestly," William continued. "Catching it to its neck, when I extended my arm, was a good coincidence. Th–"

"Then pouring your flow of energies into it through your veins," I continued, interrupting him. "You made it go visible and, somehow, managed to connect back to the planet's natural flow, making it disappear."

"Ah— guessed it right," William said and finally went quiet.

After walking for a while, I said, "I visited your place to meet you but was informed you're here."

"Something you wanted to discuss?"

"Yes, actually," I replied. "There's something you might help me with."

"What is it about?"

"A request, of course. An important one in that."

He stopped as we walked out of the mansion gates, "Not today, if you don't mind. I have some work to attend to."

"A work, you say?"

"Have to meet someone," he said, and it almost felt like a made-up reason. "And yes, it's important. Can we talk tomorrow?"

"Sure. I can join you on the way to the main town."

William snapped, "Oh, well. . . actually, the person is meeting me in the woods."

"The woods?" I replied. "Certainly, not an ideal place of meeting."

Brief laughter escaped him, and he pressed his smile inside. "Well, let's meet again," he said and turned on the other way, heading toward the woods in the eastern parts of the town. The woods further connected to the cursed belt, an area, people believed, from where people don't return due to the high toxicity in the air.

After we parted, William walked afar inside the woods till he reached a small water channel separated from the main river stream. And calmly rested himself on the wooden block near the waters, patiently waiting.

"I never expected you'd actually come, Mr Von."

A strange female voice came from beside the broad tree nearby, and a faint smile appeared on William's face, though he didn't bother to turn. After some sounds of dry leaves, crushing below one's feet, a young woman, dressed in pink with her silver-white hair, just like William, appeared from behind, walked ahead and stood in front of him.

"Well, you did send me a long request to visit and meet. Rivia Lawrence, was it?" William said, finally focusing on her, "Your name."

"Mhm," she nodded.

"The letter, which by the way was written elegantly, mentioned you wanted to have a conversation," William said. "So, what is this conversation about?"

"You know, Mr Von—"

"William," he interrupted, "just call me William."

"William, you see, this world believes in curses, spirits and Devils and considers it a threat to humanity, a threat to life." She said. "But you know, sometimes we ignore how big of a toxicity these humans are to this world. To their own kind, in fact,"

"I met the mayor yesterday," William pretended to ignore her. "He had some respectful words for a certain lady who was recently seen in this town's areas. Any clue who that lady might be?"

"What did he say, William?"

"Descendent from the old king—"

"Adopted." Rivia snapped before William could complete it.

"A woman born from the abyss," he continued. "Referred to her as a child of Lilith, a dark sorcerer..." he shook his head. "Don't know when these people will stop believing in magic and sorcery," and continued, "A lady who has the power to change fate, a perfect representation of the Devil. Killed more than 45 people in one night."

"She sounds really strong," Rivia smiled, "did she impress you?"

"I'm more interested in reason,"

"Reason?"

William nodded, "Fine with everything else, 'cause I'm aware how far from reality that is. But why kill those many people?"

Rivia was quiet for a moment. She walked closer, and sat on the wooden block, beside William. "This world is cruel to the helpless people," she said, calmly. "Ever since I was abandoned by the king, my adopted father. I did everything to survive. I was weak, I was harassed and used for wrong things, which I'm ashamed to say. So, according to the world, I changed myself, fought instead of getting beaten, killed instead of getting killed."

"So, just killed all those forty-five people?"

"I willingly just killed three of them," Rivia said. "Most of them were poisoned and my energies corrupted some. I saw an opening and I ran away."

"The mayor had asked me to get dispose of you,"

"And, will you?"

"I don't believe in bloodshed unless there's no choice," he said. "And, I know your strength. You are on a different level, and it won't be hard for you to get rid of me."

"If you knew that already," she said, "then why did you decide to meet me?"

"I— I wish not to answer that."

Rivia smiled, "Well, the renowned William Von of the Zora doesn't have an answer for a question?"

"Well, I shall say, your beauty," William replied. "Which I might not have enough words to describe, somehow, attracted me asking me to walk here."

Laughter escaped Rivia, "I see, you are familiar with the concept of humour."

"I would still be interested in knowing your objective behind things you did and the act of killing you're accused of."

After a brief pause, while her eyes glanced at the flowing water in the stream, she answered, "Those people were part of the Lydian militia. I came back 'cause the Royal family should suffer the way I did. That's how I can live in peace."

William stood up from the wooden block, shook his head, and started walking. Rivia, with a new expression, kept looking at William while he moved.

Turning around, he looked at her.

"Or. . . you can just leave the nation, start a new life," he said. "The old Duke is dead, and getting revenge over his family won't change your past. In fact, it might feel worse. So, instead. . . just walk away. Get over your old, painful memories, embrace and learn from them. If it was not for them, you'd have never turned out such a strong person, would you? Just walk away from people you hate. Maybe find someone who cares about you, who loves you, and start a new life. Vengeance is not the answer." He smiled at her, "The choice is yours, princess."

Rivia stood in her place, speechless. She wanted to talk and say things, but for some reason, words failed her. Her eyes curiously kept looking at William while he walked deep into the woods.

William? Rivia sat down again, thinking. We talked for so long, just now. Did you not recognise me? Are you even the same as I knew?

"Do you remember me, William?" words escaped her, but William had already walked out of her sight, far away to hear her.